LUBBOCK, Texas — Lubbock has seen an increase in coffee shops over the past year with more to come. Researchers say the younger generation has a lot to do with it.

If you search the hashtag “coffee” on social media, more than 160 million posts appear on Instagram, over 42 million on Facebook and over 50 billion posts on tTikTok.

23-year-old Sydney Goldston said she started drinking coffee in high school and drinks a cup daily.

“It’s just grown in the popularity of how customizable coffee can be now,” Goldston said. “You don’t just have to sip a regular old latte or black coffee. You can really make it your own and I think people really enjoy that.”

Over sixty percent of American drink coffee every day, and no matter where you drive around Lubbock there is a coffee shop.

Ninety- Two Bakery and Cafe’ General Manager Alyssa Mendez said they see a wide variety of customer and college students are a big population.

“We definitely see more of the sweeter side of coffee here especially with the younger generation, but it’s fun to get to watch people evolve as they start drinking,” Mendez said. “They will start off with lattes and then they will kind of go down to something more of like a Cortado or Americano or something like that is a little bit more focused on the actual flavor of the coffee.”

Besides the flavor there are benefits to drinking coffee whether you like it hot or iced.

According to Healthline, coffee can support heart health, brain health and boost energy levels for excesses performance.

“Coffee really does bring people together and so one thing here at ninety-two that we see is a lot of community. Alot of connection, people coming and grabbing a cup of coffee but also sitting down and connecting with other people in their life,” Mendez said.